Moorish Idol/ coral beauty being picked on or fin rot?

[jmanzzz]

I have had a coral beauty angel for about 2 weeks and the idol for exactly 1 week, my coral beauty got beat up pretty bad when he first got in the tank by my tomani tang. I noticed the white scrape looking things on his face and top fin about 4 days ago, and they have been getting slightly worse every day it looks like. The idol has damage in his dorsal and tail fin for 2 days after he has started hiding in the tomani tangs territory, witch has slowed his appetite I believe, but then I saw the white things on his pectoral fins and am wondering if it is fin rot. It’s only these 2 fish. Pics below

 

[vetteguy53081]

Can’t get a good look at idols fins but coral beauty no doubt aggression
Best way to determine who the culprit will be is to set your phone on video mode and record up to an hour and drop some food then walk away
YOU MUST WALK AWAY- they know you’re there
Return and review video and you should be able to see what’s going on
This is something a clown, trigger or tang would do

 

[jmanzzz]

Thank you that means that my tomani tang is the culprit as he has been known to attack my coral beauty. I’ll try to get some better pics of the idol

 

[jmanzzz]

This is the damage done to the idol can’t get any good pics of the white things on his pectoral fins

 

[MnFish1]

Can’t get a good look at idols fins but coral beauty no doubt aggression
Best way to determine who the culprit will be is to set your phone on video mode and record up to an hour and drop some food then walk away
YOU MUST WALK AWAY- they know you’re there
Return and review video and you should be able to see what’s going on
This is something a clown, trigger or tang would do

No you can also just sit there - a video is a good solution - but - if you like you're tank. just watch it. BTW - there are a number of other questions - since Moorish Idols are notorious for being extremely hard to keep -

1. Your experience.
2. The age of your tank.
3. Where you got the fish from? (quarantine or not) - hate to make a snap judgement on a picture.
4. You're new here - so welcome. Hopefully we can help. To me - it looks like the idol has lesions on his pectoral fins. - but it may be the background - need more info

 

[Fishfreak2009]

To me that coral beauty looks like it has a bacterial infection and both fish look like they have monogenean flukes.

 

[vetteguy53081]

No you can also just sit there - a video is a good solution - but - if you like you're tank. just watch it. BTW - there are a number of other questions - since Moorish Idols are notorious for being extremely hard to keep -

1. Your experience.
2. The age of your tank.
3. Where you got the fish from? (quarantine or not) - hate to make a snap judgement on a picture.
4. You're new here - so welcome. Hopefully we can help. To me - it looks like the idol has lesions on his pectoral fins. - but it may be the background - need more info

believe it or not, Moorish have gotten much easier with most eating right away when introduced. In the 90's - if you got onw to eat, it was shocking. . LOL

These guys were bought as a trio. Problem was , after a couple of months, they decided my coral were delicious.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Now that im home, I can see pics on a regular screen rather than phone screen. Your coral beauty is thin in the facial area and does it have white dots on it?
Moorish idols seems to have dots on its' fins ( either lympho or ich)
Also- tank looks awefully white- Is it a NEW setup ? If so, none of these fish are ideal for a new tank that will go through ammonia and/or nitrate spikes as well as blooms.

 

[MnFish1]

believe it or not, Moorish have gotten much easier with most eating right away when introduced. In the 90's - if you got onw to eat, it was shocking. . LOL

These guys were bought as a trio. Problem was , after a couple of months, they decided my coral were delicious.

YES - same experience here. I love those fish

Now that im home, I can see pics on a regular screen rather than phone screen. Your coral beauty is thin in the facial area and does it have white dots on it?
Moorish idols seems to have dots on its' fins ( either lympho or ich)
Also- tank looks awefully white- Is it a NEW setup ? If so, none of these fish are ideal for a new tank that will go through ammonia and/or nitrate spikes as well as blooms.

Assume you mean the pectoral fins - and agree

 

[jmanzzz]

No you can also just sit there - a video is a good solution - but - if you like you're tank. just watch it. BTW - there are a number of other questions - since Moorish Idols are notorious for being extremely hard to keep -

1. Your experience.
2. The age of your tank.
3. Where you got the fish from? (quarantine or not) - hate to make a snap judgement on a picture.
4. You're new here - so welcome. Hopefully we can help. To me - it looks like the idol has lesions on his pectoral fins. - but it may be the background - need more info

To answer your fist two questions my tank is around 8 months old and that is how long I have been keeping sw fish. I have had successfully housed more difficult fish like a ghost ribbon eel that eats like a maniac and has been great for 3-4 months now, as well as a flashing tilefish who unfortunately jumped out ( I ended up fixing the weak spots in my top after that). The idol is technically the most difficult fish I’ve owned but I got it for a steal a week ago and couldn’t let it go as I had been doing planning for months and passed on others before this one, but I did not qt when I bought him as he was healthy besides being slightly underweight and having a bad apitite. Here a video

 

[jmanzzz]

Now that im home, I can see pics on a regular screen rather than phone screen. Your coral beauty is thin in the facial area and does it have white dots on it?
Moorish idols seems to have dots on its' fins ( either lympho or ich)
Also- tank looks awefully white- Is it a NEW setup ? If so, none of these fish are ideal for a new tank that will go through ammonia and/or nitrate spikes as well as blooms.

Sorry just saw this reply. The tank is 8 months old has gone through the total cycle and water parameters are perfect. 5ppm of nitrates is all I have reading. There is not white dots but there is discoloration on the CB’s checks witch is def bit ich as I had to deal with a missive ich outbreak that killed some fish a couple of months ago, and that is the only way that fish have died in my tank besides the tilefish

 

[MnFish1]

To answer your fist two questions my tank is around 8 months old and that is how long I have been keeping sw fish. I have had successfully housed more difficult fish like a ghost ribbon eel that eats like a maniac and has been great for 3-4 months now, as well as a flashing tilefish who unfortunately jumped out ( I ended up fixing the weak spots in my top after that). The idol is technically the most difficult fish I’ve owned but I got it for a steal a week ago and couldn’t let it go as I had been doing planning for months and passed on others before this one, but I did not qt when I bought him as he was healthy besides being slightly underweight and having a bad apitite. Here a video

Unfortunately - I cannot see the video - I will just say as an experience SW keeper - I ordered 5 of them - a couple years ago - within 2 weeks they were dead.

 

[jmanzzz]

Sorry just saw this reply. The tank is 8 months old has gone through the total cycle and water parameters are perfect. 5ppm of nitrates is all I have reading. There is not white dots but there is discoloration on the CB’s checks witch is def bit ich as I had to deal with a missive ich outbreak that killed some fish a couple of months ago, and that is the only way that fish have died in my tank besides the tilefish

The tank also looks white because I just cleaned my sand about 2 days ago as I have an algae problem and didn’t want it on my sand

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sorry just saw this reply. The tank is 8 months old has gone through the total cycle and water parameters are perfect. 5ppm of nitrates is all I have reading. There is not white dots but there is discoloration on the CB’s checks witch is def bit ich as I had to deal with a missive ich outbreak that killed some fish a couple of months ago, and that is the only way that fish have died in my tank besides the tilefish

You said parameters are perfect, What are your numbers and what test kits are you using ?
From that ich outbreak, did you run the tank Fallow or treat within the tank?
Idol has a slight elevation in the video with breathing rate.
- Just assuring you have a handle on a nice looking fish -

 

[jmanzzz]

You said parameters are perfect, What are your numbers and what test kits are you using ?
From that ich outbreak, did you run the tank Fallow or treat within the tank?
Idol has a slight elevation in the video with breathing rate.
- Just assuring you have a handle on a nice looking fish -

Ammonia is zero nitrite is zero ph is 7.8-8.0 nitrate is 5-10 ppm on API saltwater test kit as I can’t afford the good kits atm. I doesed the ich with pylop lab medic and it worked and killed all the ich in abt 3-4 weeks

 

[jmanzzz]

Just noticed that the part of the dorsal fin on the idol that dangles is almost non existent and looks to be a inch shorter than an hour ago. Does that rule out infection and mean aggression then? Pics below

 

[MnFish1]

Just noticed that the part of the dorsal fin on the idol that dangles is almost non existent and looks to be a inch shorter than an hour ago. Does that rule out infection and mean aggression then? Pics below

To me (@vetteguy53081) the dorsal fin has a missing/damaged portion maybe 2/3 from the tail. Something (infection/biting, etc) - is damaging the fin. The fact that there is the black area - in that part of the fin - suggests 'damage' rather than an infection thats progressing from the end. PS - The fish looks thin to me. JMHO. @Jay Hemdal

 

[jmanzzz]

To me (@vetteguy53081) the dorsal fin has a missing/damaged portion maybe 2/3 from the tail. Something (infection/biting, etc) - is damaging the fin. The fact that there is the black area - in that part of the fin - suggests 'damage' rather than an infection thats progressing from the end. PS - The fish looks thin to me. JMHO. @Jay Hemdal

Do you think the damage is biting or stress, as he was thrashing the rocks yesterday and the day before that quite a bit.

 

[Ben Pedersen]

believe it or not, Moorish have gotten much easier with most eating right away when introduced. In the 90's - if you got onw to eat, it was shocking. . LOL

These guys were bought as a trio. Problem was , after a couple of months, they decided my coral were delicious.

What corals did they start to eat? SPS? LPS? Palys?

 

[vetteguy53081]

What corals did they start to eat? SPS? LPS? Palys?

Zoas
Trachy
xenia
mostly softies